Woman operated illegal bingo parlor, DA says

July 23, 2010

EASTON

Woman charged with operating illegal bingo parlor

The owner of a shuttered Easton bingo hall has been charged with illegally running a for-profit parlor that raked in $1.2 million.

Carol A. Ensley, 63, of 421 W. Berwick St., Easton, faces two misdemeanor gambling law violations after an investigation by the Northampton County district attorney's office found she allegedly used Olde Tyme Bingo on the South Side as a business.

In May, District Attorney John Morganelli announced charges were likely against Ensley, a decision he said came to after he learned the bingo parlor reported revenues of $1,161,410 in tax filings to the city.

Under Pennsylvania law, only charities and civic associations can raise money through bingo.

Ensley skirted the law by contracting with three charities to run games on their behalf, paying each of them $400 a month for their licenses, Morganelli said. Such an arrangement violates the state's bingo law, he said.

Ensley was arraigned Thursday by District Judge Daniel Corpora of Easton and freed on unsecured bail.

Defense attorney John Waldron said Friday that the allegations against Ensley are for "technical violations" of the law, such as the requirement that only a charity's members run their games.

Waldron said he does not have an accounting of the bingo parlor's finances, but that Ensley did not get rich on what she was doing.

"Our position is that she did not make anywhere near that kind of money in the bingo business," said Waldron, who plans to see whether Ensley could be eligible for a state first-offender's program.

In February as a result of the district attorney's investigation, the Line Street parlor lost the licenses it was operating under, Morganelli said.